St. John the Baptist Catholic Church has stood at the corner of Main Street in the small town of Vermillion, Minnesota, since the early twentieth century, but the parish itself was born more than forty years earlier, in a yard gathering of German, Luxembourg and Irish farmers who decided that the long buggy ride to Mass had simply gone on long enough. Today the parish is one of three that make up the Tri-Parish Community, joined with St. Mary's in New Trier and St. Mathias in Hampton, and it remains defined by the same stubborn, do-it-yourself spirit that brought its founders together under a tree in November 1881. The present brick church, dedicated in August 1914, holds sixteen paintings in the sanctuary, a riot of stained glass, dozens of carved angels and a high altar that took almost two decades to acquire - and the parish school next door, opened in the late 1950s, still has a waiting list for kindergarten and both levels of preschool.
Three Parishes, One Community
St. John the Baptist in Vermillion, St. Mary's in New Trier and St. Mathias in Hampton share a single pastor, a single staff and a single Tri-Parish Community Business Office at 23315 Northfield Boulevard in Hampton. The arrangement allows the three rural parishes to keep vibrant liturgies, schools and faith formation programs in communities that, on their own, might not support them. Within that grouping, St. John's is the anchor parish in Vermillion proper, and the 1914 church on Main Street is the visual centerpiece of the community.
The shared Mass schedule spreads worship across the week. St. John's hosts Sunday Mass at 10:00 a.m. and a Wednesday Mass at 9:00 a.m. during the school year (shifting to 7:30 a.m. in summer and on non-school days). St. Mathias in Hampton offers the Saturday Vigil at 5:00 p.m. and a Monday morning Mass at 7:30 a.m., while St. Mary's in New Trier has Sunday Mass at 8:00 a.m. and a Friday Mass at 7:30 a.m. Adoration is held at St. John's on Wednesdays from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the summer, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation is heard Saturdays at 9:00 a.m. at St. Mathias in Hampton.
The Yard Meeting of 1881: A Church Built Without a Bishop's Blessing
St. John's history begins not in a chancery office but under a tree. On November 10, 1881, a group of men from the Vermillion area gathered near the home of Nicholaus Klotz - on the east side of what is now the Vermillion Bank - to talk about building a church of their own. German and Luxembourg Catholics in the village had been traveling by horse and buggy to St. Mary's in New Trier, while Irish residents made their way to St. Agatha's, then located in the northeast quarter of Section 8 in Vermillion Township. The arrangement was, in the understated words of the parish's 125th-anniversary history, "clearly unsatisfactory."
August Langenfeld, Jacob Kummer and Nicholaus Klotz were sent to confer with the Rev. Father Gregory Koering, pastor of St. Mary's, expecting his enthusiastic endorsement. Instead, Father Koering - who had already watched branch parishes spin off to Cannon Falls and Miesville - gave them nothing but total opposition. Undeterred, the men decided to build their church without his permission and, more daringly, without even telling the bishop of the St. Paul Diocese. The May 19, 1882, edition of the Hastings Union noted that "a new Catholic church is to be built in the Village of Vermillion," and on August 30 of that year the same paper reported that the new building "is ready to brick up by the contractor, Henry Durr." Durr, a schoolteacher who had lost three fingers on his right hand in a sawmill accident three years earlier, had drawn the plans and would go on to run for the state Legislature in 1886.
Construction began in the spring of 1882 on a 4½-acre parcel donated by Mrs. Magdalene Heinen, who had purchased it from her son-in-law, Nicholas Klotz. A 60-by-30-foot brick-veneered church went up by hand and horse labor, with yellow Chaska bricks hauled in by the Milwaukee Road Railroad. The ceilings rose 20 feet; Gothic-style windows lined the sides; a small rose-shaped window sat over the front entrance. The cornerstone above the front door, a discarded marble footstone donated by Johann Therres and inscribed only with "A.D. 1882," can still be seen on the east side of the present church, resting under the large statue of Mary holding the dead Christ. The total cost of the structure, altars and fixtures came to under $4,000.
The founders' next problem was finding a priest. A delegation visited Bishop Grace in St. Paul to ask for a pastor, and Grace, surprised and displeased that a church had been built without his consent, informed them that since they had built on their own, they could find a pastor on their own. Five more years would pass before Bishop John Ireland agreed to assign the parish a full-time priest. Until then, Father Koering - the same priest who had denied them permission to build - said Mass in the new church every other Sunday for $20 a service, and parishioners built a two-story, eight-room rectory in 1886 to make the parish more attractive to a resident pastor. Diocesan officials made the parish wait five more years after that for a full-time resident. The Rev. Father J. J. Jacobs finally arrived on December 24, 1891, and celebrated his first Mass - and the parish's first Christmas Mass - the next morning.
A Name Bought With Pennies, a Bell Named St. Anna
With the building nearly complete, the new congregation needed a name and a way to pay down its debts. Parishioners John Brochman and John Zeien came up with a novel solution: charge 25 cents per ballot to vote for the church's name, and apply the proceeds to the construction bill. The March 17, 1883, Hastings Gazette published the results: St. John's 312, St. Nicholas 301, St. Jacob's 165, scattering 43. The vote raised $205.25.
Parishioners also wanted a bell. Musical bells, or carillons, had been developed in the Low Countries of Europe, and the Luxembourgers around Vermillion felt "an irresistible compulsion to satisfy their affinity for bells," in the words of the parish history. Mrs. Elizabeth Langenfeld collected the donations. Because adding a steeple to the new structure would have been challenging and expensive, a separate wooden bell tower was erected just northeast of the church, and a 500-pound bell purchased from the McShane Bell Co. of Baltimore was hung inside. The bell was named St. John. When the present church was completed in 1914, St. John was moved into the new steeple, where it still rings out alongside a larger companion bell called St. Anna.
The first Mass in the new church was celebrated by Father Koering in early February 1883; he formally dedicated the building on March 11 of that year, despite a "great downpour" that "washed out all chances that the event would be more than a small ceremony." The parish was formally incorporated on December 14, 1888, with the paperwork recorded at the Dakota County Courthouse in Hastings.
Building the Present Church, 1913-1914
By the time Father Antony Kaesen arrived on July 21, 1911, driving a sporty 1910 Warren-Detroit with no top, no side doors and acetylene headlights that had to be lit with a match, the original 1883 church was showing its age. After his first Christmas at the parish, Father Kaesen called a meeting to discuss building a new "House of God and Gate of Heaven." Parishioners approved a structure that would seat 500 and cost about $30,000. The location was contested until Archbishop John Ireland himself picked the site: a 1.16-acre parcel on the north side of Main Street donated by Aloys (Louis) and Christina Girgen.
Construction began on April 27, 1913, after the official groundbreaking and blessing. More than 1,000 loads of gravel and 700 loads of sand and brick were hauled to the site by man and horsepower. Common brick came from Chaska by rail; face brick came from Menomonie, Wisconsin. The 12 steps leading up to the main floor are a quiet reminder of how difficult excavating with horse teams was. At one point, the farmers digging the basement ran so short of teams that the church trustees, Nicholaus Werner and Theodore Kasel, had to bring their own horses to help. "It got to the point," Mrs. John N. Werner recalled, "that my father-in-law was beginning to wonder if the honor of being church trustee was worth it." Finally the farmers announced they had had enough: "Build the church!"
The cornerstone was laid on September 14, 1913, before more than 2,000 people, with Msgr. Joseph Guillot of Minneapolis blessing the stone, Father Peter Jung of St. Paul preaching in German and Father Patrick Cunningham of Hastings preaching in English. Automobiles lined the street for blocks. A year later, on August 30, 1914, the Right Rev. J. J. Lawler, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, blessed and dedicated the finished building. About 3,000 people attended, and the ladies of the parish served dinner in the basement afterward. The building itself cost $36,000; altars, pews, the communion rail and other fixtures brought the total to $60,000 - a sum the parish paid off in just six years.
Angels, Stained Glass and a Painted Canvas Sanctuary
St. John the Baptist remains, in the words of the parish history, "one of the most beautiful church buildings in the state." The stained glass windows, framed by grand arches, were designed by a German artist named R.T. Giles and painted by his wife before the artwork was fired. The soft morning or late-afternoon light filtering through the huge windows mixes with colors from the walls to create what the parish describes as "a soothing, spiritual atmosphere." Sixteen paintings hang in the sanctuary: the Seven Sacraments, the Annunciation, the Ascension, the life of John the Baptist and various paintings of angels. Painted on canvas in 1910 by a German artist in Milwaukee, they were acquired by Father Kaesen and pasted to the plaster walls inside the church's moldings. The intricate stenciling throughout was designed and painted by Carl Olsen.
Father Kaesen was an avid admirer of angels, and they appear everywhere in the building: in stained glass, on canvas, carved out of wood, on the side altars, on the high altar, above the tabernacle and on its doors, on the communion railing, in statuary and on the escutcheon plates on the doors. The parish estimates there are more than three dozen angels in the church - a point of pride so notable that Joan Nyberg's book "A Rustling of Wings," a guide to angels in art and architecture, included St. John's in its pages.
The magnificent high altar, crafted of carved wood with marble, statuary and gilding, was not installed until 1930, fulfilling a dream Father Kaesen had held since the church opened. Six parishioners - Mrs. Mary Gergen, Theodore Kasel, Mrs. Josephine Mueller, Nicholas Ries, William Werner and Mrs. Susan Wollmering - donated six large gold-and-marble cathedral-style candlesticks during the depths of the Great Depression, and the St. John Society added a matching crucifix in May of that year. The original 1883 altar, by then too small for the larger church, was sold to a parish in Wahkon, Minnesota.
A Wurlitzer electric organ was added in 1949. In 1991, Leona Kasel donated money in memory of her late husband, Jacob, to install a computer-generated carillon that plays the Angelus and inspirational hymns three times a day through speakers hidden behind the louvers of the steeple. A sound system with special hearing units was installed in 2000, and the church's precious stained glass was painstakingly restored in 1992 at a cost of about $30,000 - even the spelling of "Langenfeld" in one window, an error from the original installation, was corrected with the addition of the missing letter "L."
Fifty-Four Years with Father Kaesen
Father Antony Kaesen was pastor of St. John the Baptist for 54 years, from 1911 until his death in 1965 at the age of 90. He was a short, wiry man who stuffed Copenhagen snuff up his nose, puffed on cigars and sucked on F&F cough drops to soothe a perpetually ailing throat. He was also, by every account, a "bigger-than-life authority figure who instilled fear in his flock" and who "didn't just run the parish, he ran the entire city." Margaret Schiltgen, his longtime housekeeper, served as his eyes and ears on parish affairs.
Under Father Kaesen's watch, families were assigned pews and paid pew rent (most commonly $35 a year); if a family fell behind, the small metal plaque bearing their name was removed from the pew. Younger school children sat in the front pews during Mass, girls on the Blessed Virgin side, boys on the St. Joseph side. He didn't tolerate noise in church, refused to baptize babies given non-saint names and required his housekeeper to sit with the boys to keep them in line. If a parishioner arrived late, he would stop the service to remind them that "Late for Mass, late to heaven; never to Mass, never to heaven." When he caught men slipping out of Mass right after Communion to head for the bars, he began requiring everyone to remain in their pews a few extra minutes after Mass ended - a tradition that, remarkably, some parishioners still keep.
He also built. During his tenure, the parish added a 1923 rectory, a 1930 high altar, an iron fence around the church and rectory grounds, a remodeled sub-auditorium with a new kitchen, the school building (1957-58), a convent for the school sisters (1959), a new boiler, a re-pointed brick exterior and major repairs to the stained glass. In 1934, his alertness may have saved the parish from being robbed of about $1,100 in Depression-era bazaar proceeds when a suspicious late-night phone call tried to lure him out of the rectory; he hid the money in parishioners' homes, and armed men with rifles stood watch through the night.
When Father Kaesen died on March 12, 1965, Archbishop Leo Binz celebrated the Solemn Pontifical Requiem Mass - the first time new English liturgy was used in the area, and the largest funeral Vermillion had ever seen.
Modern Times: A Dozen Pastors and a Church That Keeps Adapting
The post-Kaesen decades brought a string of pastors who each left their own mark. Father Emmett Cashman, the day after Father Kaesen's funeral, burned many of the longtime pastor's photographs, records and personal library, an act of "grievous" loss that the parish still laments. He did, however, institute some of the Vatican II changes Father Kaesen had resisted, including the use of lay lectors and some English in the Mass.
Father Nicholas Gillen, who arrived in 1966, installed an altar that allowed the priest to face the parishioners without disturbing the historic high altar and side altars. He insisted on entrance and recessional processions and gave St. John's School his full support. Father Paul McCann attempted to close the school just before his 1971 retirement; the trustees overruled him.
Father Charles Jirik, who served from 1971 until his retirement in 1987, is still remembered for the candy and gum drawer in the rectory and for his habit of paying altar boys a quarter to serve Saturday morning Mass. He instituted an outdoor rural-life Mass - the first was held on June 27, 1976, with Archbishop John Roach as celebrant - as well as a Memorial Day Mass and service and an extra Mass on First Fridays. He oversaw the rewiring of both church and rectory, the carpeting of the sanctuary and side aisles and the purchase of a new Allen digital organ. He also organized the first parish board and invited parishioners to count the collection money after Sunday Masses.
Father Clement Zweber, who arrived in 1987, added a Saturday evening Mass and Sunday school for youngsters. He oversaw new concrete entrance steps in 1988 and a new $20,000 roof on the school in 1989. During his tenure the parish's annual fall festival grew into the popular Taste of Vermillion. He retired in 1991 because of ailing health, leaving behind a set of banners he and his sister had made for the church that are still in use.
Father Jim Gorman, a musician with an undergraduate degree in music from St. Thomas College, expanded the music program and drew younger parishioners back to Mass; he resigned in 1993 after a small group of parishioners campaigned against him. Father James Remes, who followed, modernized the school curriculum with computers, music and physical education and added the first kindergarten classes in 1993. He also dismissed the parish council - the parish has not had one since.
Father Joseph Arackal, who arrived in 1994 and continues as a familiar presence in the parish's published bulletins, brought Franciscan Clarist sisters back into the school, allowed girls to become altar servers for the first time (Cassie Wood, Jackie Stoffel, Amanda Hoopman and Ashley Retchtzigel were the historic first group on August 28, 1994), and oversaw a long list of improvements: a copper steeple repair, a 1995 interior repainting, an accessibility entrance and elevator in 1996, a network of new parking lots, a 2005 school addition, new combination windows on the rectory, a new roof and a chapel re-installed in the basement.
Today the parish is served by Fr. Mike Tix as pastor and Deacon Steve Maier, with Sarah Nauer overseeing faith formation and pastoral care and Pam McSweeney leading the school as principal.
Mass, Reconciliation and the Rosary
Sunday Mass at St. John's in Vermillion is celebrated at 10:00 a.m. The Wednesday morning Mass is at 9:00 a.m. on school days and shifts to 7:30 a.m. during the summer and on non-school days. Eucharistic Adoration is held on Wednesdays from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. during the summer months. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is heard on Saturdays at 9:00 a.m. at St. Mathias in Hampton, and communal celebrations of the sacrament are held during Advent and Lent, when several priests are present.
It is the tradition of the community to pray the rosary together before the start of Sunday liturgy, led by volunteer rosary leaders. Music at Mass is supported by a robust group of music ministers, including an adult choir, a children's choir, cantors, instrumentalists and accompanists. The parish traces its musical heritage back through Father Sweeney, a St. Paul Seminary music professor who directed the Priests' Choir at Father Kaesen's funeral and was renowned for shaping church choirs throughout the archdiocese, and forward to Father Gorman, who built a more contemporary music program in the early 1990s.
The Seven Sacraments
The parish celebrates all seven Catholic sacraments, with sacramental preparation tied closely to faith formation. Baptisms are typically celebrated during or after the 10:00 a.m. Sunday Mass at St. John's by request, and a preparation process is required for parents. First Reconciliation and First Eucharist are usually received in second grade, and Confirmation preparation is a two-year program typically completed in ninth and tenth grade. Children who are homebound and wish to receive the Eucharist can arrange a visit through the parish office.
Couples preparing for marriage work directly with the pastor and use the parish's wedding guidelines and liturgy planning guide. The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is available to anyone who is hospitalized or experiencing extended illness - the parish encourages the sick or their families to call the office so a priest can visit. The parish also hosts communal celebrations of the Anointing of the Sick each year, along with Eucharistic adoration with suggested family names three times a year in Advent, Lent and on Holy Thursday, with Benediction.
Men discerning a call to priesthood are encouraged to speak with the pastor; the parish provides a link to the Archdiocesan Vocation Office.
The Parish School: A Growing Waitlist
St. John the Baptist School sits next to the church on Main Street, just steps from the rectory. The current school building was completed in 1958 at a cost of $100,000 and was first used as a District 200 public school for one year before Father Kaesen staffed it with Sisters of Notre Dame from Mankato. Bishop Cowley blessed the new school and a separate convent for the sisters on August 2, 1959.
The school has been through many chapters since. Kindergarten was added in 1993 after parishioner Kate Ries approached Father Remes on the street, and an 8,200-square-foot addition completed in 2005 added a fifth-grade classroom and science room, a library and music room, a conference room, a large community room and additional office space. The science room is still awaiting final completion. The $1.178 million project was jump-started by a $300,000 gift from farmer and lifelong parishioner John Bauer and supported by $89,338.30 from the Pete and Nick Marschall estate. Archbishop Harry Flynn blessed the addition on October 20, 2005.
Today, St. John the Baptist School serves 134 students in preschool through fifth grade - a small, intentionally close-knit program. Unlike many schools in the archdiocese, St. John's has a waiting list for kindergarten and both levels of preschool. Principal Pam McSweeney leads a teaching staff that includes religious sisters, and the school is supported by a strong Home and School Association.
Faith Formation for Children, Youth and Adults
Faith formation is a central part of parish life. Children in first through ninth grades meet for Sunday or Wednesday classes during the school year, with a published calendar, registration form and family handbook that walk parents through the year. Sacramental preparation for First Reconciliation, First Eucharist and Confirmation is built into the curriculum, with Confirmation preparation typically spanning ninth and tenth grade. The parish also offers Sunday School during Mass for younger children.
Adult faith formation is built around whatever format works best for a given parishioner: Bible study, video series, faith-sharing groups, prayer lines and other options. The parish invites adults who are interested in growing in their faith to contact Sarah Nauer and complete a short interest form so programming can be tailored to the community's needs. Small-group faith study leaders, retreat coordinators and other volunteers are always needed.
Becoming Catholic: OCIA
Adults who have not been baptized, or baptized Christians who have not received Confirmation and Eucharist, are invited into the parish's OCIA process - the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. OCIA is described by the parish as a "process, not a program," meant to form disciples of Jesus Christ and welcome new members into the Catholic Church. Those who complete the process are typically received into the Church at the Easter Vigil through the sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist, and Baptism if they have not yet been baptized. Sarah Nauer coordinates the parish's OCIA work, and the parish notes that "this has the potential to be a life changing journey."
Parish Councils, the Cemetery and Annual Events
St. John's is led by a parish Pastoral and Finance Council that advises the pastor on matters affecting the parish and its finances. Trustees David Beskau and Samantha Endres serve alongside council members Mike Thorkildson, Samantha Werner, Stacia Cooper, Kari Storkamp, Harry Grandgenett and Renee Vought. A separate St. John's School Advisory Council works with the pastor and principal on advancement, education programs, finance, policy, strategic planning, technology and accreditation, while the Home and School Association organizes parent volunteers, fundraisers and social events.
The St. John the Baptist Cemetery is overseen by a dedicated committee - Greg Ries, Jake Gergen, Carol Stoffel and Rhonda Rother - that handles lot sales, fence and grounds maintenance, and the occasional survey to make room for additional gravestones. The parish cemetery dates to 1904, when it was organized with rules on lot prices, grave-digging fees and lot cultivation. A 10-foot-high crucifix erected by Father Kaesen in the 1890s eventually rusted and was buried in the floor of the new school when it was built in 1957, but Father Kaesen's own unused vault is still there in the cemetery near V. F. Rother's tombstone.
Annual parish events include the Taste of Vermillion festival (which grew out of the fall festival under Father Zweber's guidance), Bingo Fun Days, spaghetti dinners, sausage suppers and pancake breakfasts. The parish also partners with a long list of service opportunities through its Time and Talent form, including the Knights of Columbus, St. Anne's Council of Catholic Women, the Appalachian Mission, blood drives and a Thanksgiving food drive.
Liturgical Volunteers and Safe Environment
Parishioners are invited to serve in a wide range of liturgical roles: altar server (open to any youth who has made First Holy Communion), lector, usher, extraordinary minister of Holy Communion (open to practicing Catholics who have been confirmed), rosary leader and music minister. Detailed guidelines and directions for lectors, ushers, extraordinary ministers and rosary leaders are available online, with separate guidelines for music ministers coming soon. The parish also welcomes greeters, sacristans, money counters, wedding coordinators and those who care for the altar linens.
All adult volunteers who have contact with youth or vulnerable adults, and all employees, are required to complete the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis's Essential 3: a background check, Virtus Protecting God's Children training, and an acknowledgment of the appropriate code of conduct. Re-credentialing is required every three years. The parish's Safe Environment Coordinator is Katie Werner, and the school's Safe Environment Coordinator is Sr. Navya Memattahill. Anyone wishing to report suspected abuse is asked to contact local law enforcement first and then notify the Archdiocese.
Getting Around Vermillion
The church sits at 106 West Main Street in Vermillion, in the heart of the small town east of Northfield. Parking is available in several lots built over the years - in front of the rectory, in front of the school, behind the school and on the west side of the church - and a 1996 accessibility project added a discreet entrance and elevator on the side of the church, along with large handicap-accessible restrooms in the basement. A ground-level gathering space used for meetings and funeral visitations is part of the same project. The sound system installed in 2000 was designed to work with the special hearing units already in the pews.
Anyone with questions about the parish, scheduling Mass intentions, registering a new family, joining a council or committee, or becoming a liturgical volunteer is invited to contact the Tri-Parish Community Business Office at 651-437-9030 or by email. Online giving is available through the parish's secure giving page, and bulletins are posted regularly for the three parishes together. Visitors are welcome to come as they are, to attend Mass at any of the three parishes and to experience a community that has been saying, in its own stubborn way, "Build the church!" for more than 140 years.